Swapped
Swapped is a 2008 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Universal Animation Studios for Universal Pictures. The eleventh animated feature in the Universal Animated Features canon, it was directed by Larry Huber and Jess Riol (in their directorial debut) from a screenplay by Brian Lynch, and stars the voices of Sarah Vowell, Freddie Highmore, Leslie Mann and Dave Foley. The film follows an unlikely relationship between a young girl and a teenage goth boy who swap bodies. Swapped was released on July 2, 2008 in the United States, and was met with mixed critical reception, while the general public received it favorably. Despite the mixed reception, the film was a box office success, grossing $376 million worldwide on its $70 million budget. Plot Coming soon! Voice cast * Sarah Vowell as Suzanne "Suz" Grady, a smart and clever 12-year-old girl * Freddie Highmore as Lee Webb, a goth and emo teenage boy and a neighbor of Suz * Leslie Mann as Malaria Nickerson, the leader and head of the National Swap Center (NSC) * Dave Foley as Rodney Nickerson, Malaria's clumsy and awkward son and assistant of the NSC ** Jeremy Shada as Young Rodney * Ashley Johnson as Chloe Andersen, Suz's best friend * Michael Yarmush as Johnny Long, a friend of Lee * Amanda Bynes as Maria, a friend of Suz * Caroline Dhavernas as Leah, a friend of Suz * Shantel VanSanten as Karen, a friend of Suz * Larry Huber as Norman, a member of the NSC * Amy McNeill as Alice Grady, the mother of Suz * Carlos Alazraqui as Patrick Grady, the father of Suz * Nika Futterman as Lee's mother * Pat Fraley as Lee's father * Mae Whitman as Kelly, a member of the NSC * Harland Williams as a teacher * Laura Bailey as a NSC member * Tom Kenny as one of the NSC members * Rob Huebel as a NSC manager * Brian Lynch as a doctor Additional voices * Isabella Acres * Lori Alan * Emily Anderson * Jack Angel * Bob Bergen * John Cygan * Larry Huber * Freddie Long * Brian Lynch * Sherry Lynn * Danny Mann * Mona Marshall * Mickie McGowan * Samuel Mokugusn * Laraine Newman * Jan Rabson * Jess Riol * Jeremy Shada * Zack Shada * Will Shadley * André Sogliuzzo * James Kevin Ward * April Winchell * Ariel Winter Production Development The idea for Swapped began with Jim Anderson who envisioned the film as a "body swapping" animated comedy. The film entered development in 2003, with Anderson and Kirk Wise as the film's directors with a tentative release scheduled for a summer 2007 release. Originally, the film was titled Dave & Joe and had a completely different story. This version of the story had a body swap of a relationship between a construction worker named Dave and a musician named Joe. However, when BJ and Wally was in production, Universal Animation president Jeff Segal decided that the project should focus on a relationship between a boy and a girl rather than two men. Because of this, the film was put on hold due to several rewrites and Computeropolis 2 assumed the summer 2007 release date originally scheduled for Dave & Joe. Anderson and Wise left the project in 2006 following disputes over the film's creative direction, and were replaced by Larry Huber, an animator known for his history as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and Nickelodeon and also the co-creator of Nickelodeon's ChalkZone, and Jess Riol, a co-producer on BJ and Wally. In September 2006, the new film was announced as Swapped with its new story originally evolving Lee Webb as the lead role and Suz Grady was essentially his next-door neighbor. The release date was scheduled for May 2008. For a while, the filmmakers were "very committed" to that version of the story, but in December 2006, they realized the film's plot would be more engaging if they reversed the roles to instead focus on Suz as opposed to Lee. Casting In May 2007, Freddie Highmore and Sarah Vowell were announced as having been cast, respectively in the roles of Lee Webb and Suz Grady. American author and actress Vowell was asked to do the voice of Suz because of her voice work in Pixar's The Incredibles, as well as her involvement in the National Public Radio program This American Life. Animation Coming soon! Soundtrack In June 2007, Mark Mothersbaugh, who composed the score for Paint World and Magina, was revealed to be returning to Universal Animation to score Swapped. Interscope Records released the soundtrack on July 1, 2008. Video game A video game based on the film was released on June 24, 2008 for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Portable. Release Swapped was originally scheduled for a May 16, 2008 release, but Universal Pictures moved the release up to July 2, 2008, mainly due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. Fox/Gingo's Metro Cone 2 was then given the slot of May 16, 2008. Marketing *The official teaser was released on July 6, 2007 and was shown before Computeropolis 2, The Simpsons Movie, Bratz, Daddy Day Camp, and Mr. Bean's Holiday. *The first theatrical trailer was released on November 2, 2007 and was shown before Bee Movie, Fred Claus, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, Enchanted, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. *The second theatrical trailer was released on March 14, 2008 and was shown before Horton Hears a Who!, Speed Racer, Marcus Troy and the Race Against Time, Metro Cone 2, Kung Fu Panda, and WALL-E. *TV spots began to air in June 2008. Home media Swapped was released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 2, 2008. Reception Box office Coming soon! Critical response Swapped has received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 51% approval rating with an average rating of 6/10, based on 143 reviews. The site's consensus reads: "While the story isn't too fresh, and it sometimes can't help but mock up Freaky Friday-esque elements, Swapped benefits from zany visuals to keep the family-friendly audience entertained." On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 49 out of 100 based on 48 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Accolades Coming soon! Transcripts Main To see the main transcript of the film, click here. Trailers To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here.